Donatello leaned all the way forward in the car seat so that he could work with his scanner, and still stay out of sight on the off chance that someone was watching the van too closely.
"Do you remember where we need to go?" Leo asked.
The purple-masked turtle nodded. "Between Luke and I, I'm fairly certain we can locate the right Lab...or what he believes is the right Lab."
"What about the disruptor, Donny?" Luke called from up front.
"It will do its job, but I'm getting more concerned about taking the cameras down," he said honestly.
"I thought the device would knock out all the electrical gadgets in its range, Don." Greg sounded confused.
"That's what it's designed to do," Donatello affirmed. "The problem is that it feels a little obvious to me. You told me there's someone watching the monitor feed, Doc. If they notice all these successive systems shutting down, I think it would give us away."
"Yeah, I see what you're saying, Don." Luke nodded uneasily. "If they're paying attention to the feed, they'll pick up that something is amiss."
The blue-masked turtle's eye ridges rose. "Then what are we doing here? It sounds like we'll have trouble if we don't use the disruptor, and we'll still be in trouble if we do use it."
"I have to fool them into thinking they're seeing something that they're not seeing," Donatello replied. "I'd like to try and loop some old security footage, so that they're watching a normal night, instead of what will actually be going on. Time is our biggest enemy on this operation. We have to stall them long enough to get what we've come out for."
"The Security headquarters is attached to the main building, but it has a separate entrance too. I'm sorry I couldn't get a look inside," Luke apologized. "I had a hard enough time not raising Caleb's suspicion over us as it was. How did the key card work out for you, Don?"
Donatello grinned. "It's a thing of beauty, Doc, it really is. Wiping the strip took me the longest, but I think we've got a true skeleton key now. I have a slew of different security codes to go along with it, based off the footage you and Marc collected. You guys did a great job capturing the codes as they were entering them, by the way."
"So what's the first step?" Greg asked.
"We have to get inside the Security Central, find their surveillance room, and crack their footage. I think you and Doc need to leave that part to me and Leo."
Greg threw a look at him in the rearview mirror. "I resent that." He only sounded half serious.
"I know you do, Heff, but we need to be light and quick. I need Leo to act as a distraction to get the room emptied, to give me enough time to manipulate their software."
"Aren't those videos time-stamped, Donny?" Greg asked. "They'll be able to tell that the footage is old."
"They'd still have to look closely to notice the dates," Don replied. "I'm not saying they won't figure it out - I'm certain that they will. But all I need to do is buy us enough time to complete some massive research in the Lab. Hopefully no one will notice what I've done until it's too late to catch us in the act."
Donatello swallowed as he noticed the shadowy outline of the Institute down the block from the direction in which the van was traveling.
"No razor wire, no perimeter fence," Leonardo observed. "Are we making a bigger deal out of their security than we should be?"
"That's what they want you to think, Leo," Luke said. "I hope we're ready for this."
The older turtle shot Luke a lopsided grin. "Don't worry about a thing, Doc. Breaking and entering is one of our specialties."
Donatello took another moment to double-check his equipment, before yanking the hood of his sweatshirt over his head. "Once I've activated the disruptor, that's it. We won't be able to make contact with you, or you with us."
Greg nodded solemnly. "I guess you guys are going to have to keep yourselves out of trouble then."
The two turtles disappeared against the backdrop of a building, about a quarter of a mile from the entrance to the Institute. Donatello kept a sharp eye out for the best way in, while Leonardo watched his flank from behind.
"You've got the key, so the side door is an option." His brother motioned toward an entrance.
Donny shook his head. "I want to avoid using the disruptor until we have to, because it stands such a risk of garnering us negative attention. I don't want them to recognize that cameras are going out." He glanced up at the building they were pressed against.
"Are you thinking of trying the roof?"
"For this part at least. I can attempt to use the sensor on my scanner - it should be able to pick up where the greatest amount of energy is being expended. That should get us to their monitoring center."
"Makes sense. Lead the way, Don."
The purple-masked turtle was grateful for the cloudy night, though they would have stuck to the shadows to avoid the light of the moon in any case. Adrenaline surged through his veins as he scaled the building, and climbed onto the flat rooftop without any difficulty.
This feels awfully simple, but there's no way I'm going to say that out loud.
Leonardo crouched silently beside him as Donatello sensed movement below. Two men were completing a circuit of the perimeter of the property, and one of them had a radio in his hand. The turtles ducked lower to the flat surface and stayed absolutely still as the men continued in their chosen course. Neither rose until the men were out of sight, and even then they remained hunched over, not daring to stand up straight.
The purple-masked turtle drew his scanner from his belt and began taking temperature readings, searching for a hot spot that would indicate a buildup of energy. They tread carefully across the roof for several minutes, before Don located a promising source of heat output.
"I'm pretty sure their monitoring center is close by, and I think we can probably access it from above. There should be some kind of an attic or crawl space underneath us."
"How do you figure that?" Leo asked.
"There's a common practice of running internet cable and wiring through that type of space, and the external vents I noticed while we were scaling this building suggests a dehumidifier is in use."
"And you think there would be roof access to the crawl space?"
"Probably. I mean, I think it would make sense to a technician to have a point of entry from up here. We need to look around some more." Donatello turned on his flashlight, and kept the beam low to the rooftop. "Look, but also feel. It might be another vent, or there could be some kind of trap door."
The blue-masked turtle wandered away from him slightly to perform his own search, and Donatello ran his hand across the roof as he started looking for a possible way in as well. His older brother had walked about six paces, when he waved back at Donatello.
"I've got a metal door with a padlock," Leo hissed.
Donatello came to join him. "Let's not destroy the lock. I can probably pick it, and they'll never need to know anyone came in this way."
"You are Houdini after all." Leonardo chuckled. "Have you met a lock you couldn't pick?"
Donatello smiled back in the scant beam of his flashlight. "No sweat, bro. Give me a minute here."
He slid one of his specially designed pins into the padlock, carefully moving it around until he felt the object hook the mechanism in the right direction.
"Okay," Donatello said quietly, projecting all business now. "I'm going in, and you can follow me. Watch your step. It's probably not the strongest material known to mankind. We don't want to fall through."
Don lowered himself through the trap door slowly, and discovered there wasn't much room to maneuver inside the space. He turned his flashlight across the attic to get a look around, as he attempted to avoid breathing in the dust. He crawled a few feet away from the door to give Leonardo room to descend, and a small cloud of dust announced his brother's arrival, followed by a muffled cough.
"Try not to breathe it in, Leo," Don called softly.
"Now you tell me. What do we do now?"
"There must be another way into the building through the crawl space. It could be another trap door like the one you found on the roof, or a simple cover like a vent. We just have to look."
Donatello barely resisted the urge to sneeze, as he carefully tried to dispel the dust lingering in the air. I didn't think we'd need the oxis just to sneak inside the building, he thought ruefully. He kept going on his hands and knees, until he noticed light streaming into the space from down below. Quietly he approached the source of the light, and gazed over the edge of the vent cover.
He took a sharp breath when he saw the room, and someone sitting directly beneath him. He watched as the man shifted wearily in his seat, and the back of it squealed in protest.
"What is it?" Leo asked.
"There's someone down there. I'm going to try and get a closer look." The purple-masked turtle held his breath as he leaned over further, and tried to glimpse more of the room. The vision of the wall filled with monitors made him feel like pumping his fist. "We're in great position," he whispered excitedly. "This is exactly where we need to be. Now if we can just get rid of this character for a little while...Any ideas, Leo?"
Leonardo cocked his head thoughtfully. "Do you think you'd need much time at the monitor?"
Donny shrugged. "I'm not sure. I have to physically see the program."
"I've got a trick to hopefully get him to leave, and then I'll keep watch in case we get more company. Do you see a phone down there, Don?"
Donatello peered around the room, and noticed the black handset sitting on the desk. "I see one."
"Can you get a close up on any of the numbers?"
"What's up your sleeve, Leo?"
"Just look, will you?"
Donatello withdrew his digital binoculars, and zoomed in slowly on the phone. The device had several labeled buttons with various phone numbers, and yet another labeled number was emblazoned across the top of it. "I think I have the phone number, Leo," he mentioned. He read the numbers off to his brother, and watched Leonardo pull out his phone.
"What are you going to do, ask him to go away?" Donatello asked.
"Stay here, okay? I'm moving away from the vent so the guy won't be able to hear me talking."
Donatello watched, mystified, while his brother crawled out of sight, and he didn't have to wait long before he heard the phone ringing below him.
"This is Wilson," the guard answered. "What? No, I didn't order your pizza...You're where? You couldn't possibly be there."
The man's fingers flew across the keys, drowning out his voice for a moment. "No, I don't see you there. Of all the preposterous...I don't care if you do lose your job! If I find you trying to get inside, you'll lose a lot more than that, you little..."
The guard slammed down the phone and picked up his radio. "Positions 2 and 4, be advised. We may have an uninvited guest on the premises. I'm going to take a look around front, and I'll be in touch, over." Wilson cursed under his breath as he stalked out of the room.
Donatello waited until he heard the door click before he tried moving the vent, and leaped silently to the floor. He dropped into the desk chair, but couldn't resist looking over his shoulder at Leonardo before getting to work. "Pizza delivery, Leo?"
The blue-masked turtle shrugged. "I was trying to think like the Master Distracter."
"Mike would be proud." Donatello looked back at the screen in front of him and laughed. "That guy didn't even log out. This is going to be a cinch."
"Good. Get it done," Leonardo encouraged him. "I'll go keep watch in case he gets tired of chasing the imaginary pizza boy."